Monday, September 15, 2008

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Wall Street was a vastly different world Monday from what it looked like just days earlier, following one of the most harrowing days in the history of U.S. financial industry.

In less than a day, Lehman Brothers, one of the nation's oldest investment banks, filed for bankruptcy - the largest ever announced in the United States. And Bank of America executed a bold and swift $50 billion takeover of Merrill Lynch, while the fate of other brand-name financial institutions remained in doubt.

Anxiety was palpable in the financial community Monday. The Dow Jones industrial average plunged more than 2.5% just after the opening bell, before paring some of those losses.